Vidjagame Apocalypse 196 – 2017’s Most Anticipated

We’re back in full for a new year, as Fandom’s Henry Gilbert joins us to pray feverishly that 2017 is not a complete slobbering shit-show look ahead to the games slated to come out in 2017 that we’re most excited for. With that out of the way, we move on to Scalebound’s cancellation, some idle speculation and excitement from before the Switch press conference happened, and (finally!) your favorite games of 2016.

Did the guys really go 5 minutes without even saying that the game they were talking about was Red Dead Redemption 2? Many listeners may have watched the trailer, but it doesn’t seem like a helpful way to run an audio podcast by constantly saying “this” or “this game” without having said what game that is, apparently assuming the sound of the trailer was enough.

Did Henry come on another show and complain about gay people not being able to create kids with their partners? I think I liked Henry better before he felt like he had an agenda he always had to push on podcasts about games and comics and Simpsons and everything.

What he said was that while it was great that Fire Emblem Fates now allows same-sex relationships for the main character, they come at the cost of 1-2 recruitable characters who would normally be the children of the main character and (if male-male) the MC’s partner. Since these characters come with their own storylines and missions, and can’t be brought into the game otherwise, he felt like he’d been locked out of a not-insignificant chunk of the game because of the gay relationship. It was a specific observation, not an “agenda.”

For what it’s worth, you guys usually get to compose yourselves and have some interesting things to say when you have a few days to mull it over versus having to talk about it right after it happens so it never bugs me.

This comment might fit better on next week’s episode, but I’ve gotta say that after not having a Wii U or playing much of anything on it, I’m kinda down for getting the Switch at launch. Either way, I’ll spend one last hoorah with Nintendo, or this will be a great return to form and I’d like to be a part of it.

QOTW: My most anticipated game has to be RE7. The trailer with the family at the dinner table sold me completely. The new direction looks good, and man, did the series need a change. My PSVR which would be collecting dust in 2017 if it weren’t for this game.

QOTW:
I’m looking forward to STARDEW VALLEY’s multiplayer mode. I know Stardew Valley isn’t a 2017 game, but I have a feeling that the multiplayer mode will make it feel like a totally different game. I haven’t played the game since it was first released (when I put in 50+ hours) and know that it’s been updated like gangbusters since then… with new farm maps and stuff. So, it really will feel like Stardew Valley 2.0 for me, and being able to play with a friend (friends maybe?) will be what I’m looking forward to the most in God-Emperor Trump’s first year in office.

QOTW — STRAFE. You might not have heard of it, but it’s a kickstarted game that made its money and even got picked up by Devolver Digital. It’s an FPS modeled after Quake with the same grungy, low fi music and graphics but it’s procedurally generated and comes with unique power ups per floor, like a Binding of Isaac that got hit with a PSX a few times. It’s a sick looking game and their campaign to gain notoriety was even to send a “Shareware Version” beta copy to Giant Bomb on a floppy disc.